Site Products
Coaching Tip of the Week: Relax Your Arm During Backswing

Coaching Tip of the Week -Go After Your Opponent’s Weaknesses – But Not Too Much!

(By Larry Hodges)

Suppose you push to your opponent, and he has trouble attacking it. Licking your lips, you push to him over and over and he keeps missing. It seems a winning tactic, right?

Often it is. But sometimes all you are doing is warming up the opponent’s seeming weakness and turning it into a strength. It depends on the opponent, but if he’s able to loop or otherwise attack some of your pushes, if you give him enough, he’ll probably get better, and then that big tactical strength you had is gone. Basically, you are warming up the opponent until that weakness vanishes, and now you have to find a different way to win. The same is true if you have a serve that gives him trouble and you overuse it until he can return it – and thereby losing that advantage. The same is true of most other successful tactics.

Instead, when you find such a weakness in an opponent, space it out so he can’t adjust, thereby taking away the tactical advantage you had. Come back to it regularly and at critical points, unless you think he’s expecting and waiting on it. But that’s usually not the case – usually it’s best to come back to what works, even if the opponent might expect it. With experience, you’ll gain the judgement of when and how often you should pound your opponent’s weaknesses!

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.

Latest News

Serve Into the Body

July 11, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve long serve to elbow, Robot plays topspin to Backhand, Backhand spin block down the line.… Read More

Playing Kids

July 8, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) Let’s face it; they’re probably faster than you. They might have a coach working with… Read More

#2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down The Line

July 7, 2025
[[Feature] [Special Feature] American Stars! Jha’s Strengths #2 A Skill That Is Likely To Score – Backhand Down… Read More

United States Smash: Tight Scores and a Big Upset in Early Action

July 7, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Action is underway in the main round of the United States Smash, the… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Bay Area Blasters

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Bay Area Blasters plan to blast through the upcoming Major League Table… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Established in 2002, Calgary United Sports Table Tennis Association (CUSTTA) is Alberta’s largest Table Tennis… Read More

Butterfly Players Shine at the 2025 US National Table Tennis Championships

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) The 2025 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships is one of the premiere annual… Read More

US Nationals Recap

July 6, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The US National Table Tennis Championships is in the books.  One of America’s premiere events… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.